Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Welcome, minister. My colleagues, Senators Dagenais and Cormier, have pointed out two flaws in your bill. I will tell you about two more. The day before yesterday, the federal Minister of Transport, Mr. Alghabra, stated that Canadian National Railway, CN, must set an example by appointing francophones to its board of directors. Unfortunately, that was merely lip service because Bill C-13 does not have a mechanism for requiring the appointment of francophones to the boards of directors of corporations that are subject to the Official Languages Act.

Why didn’t you include something in the bill to require influential companies such as Air Canada and CN to appoint francophones to their boards of directors? Also, why doesn’t Bill C-13 provide for the inclusion of language provisions in agreements between the federal and provincial governments so that francophone minority communities can have French-language services in their province?